Category Archives: Toronto theatre news

Looking forward to December

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‘Tis the season of family holiday shows and Messiahs.  Not that I’m planning to do much of either but here are some shows that you might be interested in…

  • On December 7th, the earliest of the Messiahs.  Toronto Choral Society have a matinée performance at Koerner Hall.  Soloists include Quinn Kelsey and Teresa Tucci .
  • The Ensemble Studio have a noon hour concert on December 9th in the RBA
  • Rogers vs Rogers opens at Crow’s Theatre on December 10th.  This is another adaptation by Michael Heaney of a book about Toronto shenanigans.  He was also responsible for The Masterplan.  Previews are the 2nd to the 9th with the run extending to January 3rd.

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A couple more interesting things this week

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I’ve only just found out about a couple of events this week that may be of interest.

Soulpepper has a free showing of Ingmar Bergman’s 1957 masterpiece The Seventh Seal.  It’s on Wednesday, November 12th at 7pm and it’s free.  If you have seen The Comeuppance and the movie you’ll get the connection!  If you haven’t seen the movie I would say it’s one of the most important post war films.  It has a fantastic performance by Max von Sydow as a world weary crusader and an equally fine one by Bengt Kerot as Death.  The cinematography, by Gunnar Fischer is exceptional.  No gimmicks.  No special effects.  Just a very beautiful and moving film.

Then on Sunday November 16th at 7.30pm at Arrayspace Lindsay McIntyre is performing and producing Morton Feldman’s Three Voices in which the live singer works with two pre-recorded vocal tracks.  It’s a most interesting hour long piece.  I recently reviewed a recording of it by Dory Hayley for La Scena Musicale.  Tickets for that are “at the door” or here.

Coming up in November

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Here’s what’s coming up next month as best I know.

  • Canadian Stage’s presentation of Robert Lepage’s The Far Side of the Moon opens at the Bluma Appel Theatre on November 1st and runs until the 16th.
  • In the RBA lunchtime series we have the Wirth Vocal Prize winner in recital on the 6th
  • Branden Jacob-Jenkins’ The Comeuppance is playing at Soulpepper.  Previews are October 30th to November 5th with opening night on the 6th and the run continuing to November 23rd.

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Falling into September

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Life slowly returns to some version of normal.. Here’s what I’m seeing so far for Sptember.

  • 5th September – Apocryphonia have a PWYC concert at St. Thomas’ Huron Street featuring music from the Hundred Years War.
  • 11th September – Lucy Kirkwood’s The Welkin opens at Soulpepper.  Previews are the 4th to the 10th with the  run extending to October 5th.

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August is the quietest month

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After the relative busyness of July; Fringe, TSM, August really does look pretty quiet.  There are a few things on though:

  • Devon Healey’s theatre piece about his own journey into blindness; Rainbow on Mars, runs at the Daniels Spectrum from August 9th to 20th (official opening is the 13th).  It’s a collaboration between the National Ballet and Outside the March Theatre Company.  It’s been described as Pan’s Labyrinth meets The Matrix and it features the debut of a new technology; Immersive Descriptive Audio.
  • Soulpepper offers a comparatively rare opportunity (for Toronto) of seeing some Harold Pinter.  Old Times, in a production directed by Peter Pasyk, is playing at the Michael Young Theatre.  Previews are from the 6th to the 12th with opening on the 13th and the run continuing to September 7th.
  • And if you want an outdoor alternative to CanStage’s Romeo and Juliet, Shakespeare in the Ruff are presenting Tiff’ny of Athens in Withrow Park from August 14th to 31st.

Final thoughts on the Fringe

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As I pivot from the Fringe to Toronto Summer Music I thought I’d lay out a few thoughts about this year’s Toronto Fringe.  Obviously this is based on my sample of eight shows out of the huge number on offer but some of my thoughts seemed to be confirmed by conversations over the course of the week.

Me with cast and crew members of Regarding Antigone

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July 2025

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July in Toronto is really all about two festivals; the Toronto Fringe Festival and Toronto Summer Music.

The Fringe runs July 2nd to July 13th and there are more than 100 shows on 20+ stages.  There’s a huge range of performance styles; drama, comedy, clowning, musicals, stand up etc.  Most shows run an hour or less and the standard ticket price is $18.75 though there are plenty of discounts plus multi show passes as well as free events at the Fringe Hub which this year is at Soulpepper with events also across the street at Old Flame brewery.  Quality varies a lot.  Some shows are excellent; Monks last year would be a case in point, but others a re a bit meh.  But that’s the point really.  You can see what looks interesting to you.  All the details are here.

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Looking ahead to June

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Things slow down just a little bit in June but with both Luminato and Opera 5’s Opera festival it’s not that quiet.  Here’s what’s coming down:

  • June 5th to 7th at Daniels Spectrum there’s Nigamon/Tunai; an exploration of Indigenous perspectives from North and South America (part of Luminato)
  • June 6th at Metropolitan United Krisztina Szabó leads in Queen of the Night Communion, another Luminato show.

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May 2025

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Here are my top picks for May.

  • The Cunning Linguist opens at Factory Theatre on May 1st.  Previews are April 26th, 27th and 30th and it runs to May 11th.  A young queer Mexican woman, with her sidekick God, decides to move to Toronto…
  • Eugene Onegin in the Robert Carsen production opens May 2nd at the COC.  Runs until May 24th.
  • On May 3rd Confluence has a Teiya Kasahara curated show called Project T: Home Video (this is a change from the originally scheduled May 2nd/3rd show).

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March 2025

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So what looks fun in March?

  • March 1st (Dydd Gŵyl Dewi Sant) Apocryphonia have a “classical meets punk” concert called Brews, Beauties and Brawlers at St. Olave’s Anglican Church at 7.30pm.  PWYC.
  • March 5th Canadian Art Song Project have their annual gig at noon in the RBA.
  • Crow’s Theatre have a new adaptation of Measure for Measure in the Studio Theatre.  Previews on the 6th and 7th, opening on the 8th and running to March 16th.

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